Hot Spring One-shots
by billie.bennett11
Summary: <html><head></head>A collection of one-shots, with all the RWBY Volume 2 episodes told through Neptune's point of view. Hot Spring (Neptune X Yang). Rated T for the possibility of foul language. There will be hints of Black Sun, though only from what Neptune thinks of them as a couple.</html>
1. Best Day Ever

Neptune Vasilias thought he was prepared for anything that Beacon Academy had to offer. Sun had been raving for almost two weeks about how amazing Vale was, and that the rest of team SSSN had to come and meet these new, awesome friends of his. And in all honesty, though Sage and Scarlet had expressed annoyance at Sun's antics, Neptune was excited that he was finally at the infamous Beacon. But he had in no way expected a fight to break out the first day that he arrived.

When he and Sun walked into the cafeteria and all the students ran out, screaming "Food fight!", Neptune knew he had walked into a disaster. He glanced over at Sun, who was grinning with delight. _Oh, crap… _Neptune thought. But he watched with a combination of fascination, disdain, and enjoyment as two teams clashed in a battle of cuisine. The redhead with the bread was awfully pretty. And good at fighting too. From Sun's many descriptions, Neptune was able to identify Blake Belladonna, who moved with grace, her shadow-like hair flying around her as she used a loaf of bread as a katana against the redhead. Neptune could instantly tell why Sun liked her. Her quick, ninja-like style would probably be a good balance for Sun's fast, heavy-hitting attacks if they ever got caught in another fight. The shorter girl with the white ponytail was pretty too. She moved like a dancer, with poise and refinement. But it was the blonde that Neptune couldn't take his eyes off of. Her golden hair flew around her like sunlight. She was beautiful, but she was no weakling either. Of the four girls who were in her team, she was easily the strongest. And her powerful punches sent the boy from the other team with the long black hair flying. He found himself grinning while watching her, and he almost gasped when she was sent flying through the ceiling by a watermelon hammer. But then the shorter girl with the scarlet cape and the pretty redhead from before sent pop cans flying his and Sun's way, drenching Neptune in the fizzy goodness of People Like Grapes Soda. Neptune glared at Sun, who only said, with the largest of smiles, "I love these guys".

Neptune was about to tell him off when a woman stormed in, repairing the damage to the cafeteria. He noticed the beautiful blonde girl crash back through the ceiling and into the floor. Both teams exploded into laughter. Neptune decided he liked the blonde's laugh. It was louder than her teammates' laughs, but more full of joy. She laughed without restraints. Neptune liked that. And for a second, Neptune didn't care that he was drenched in soda. He just watched the teams laugh together.


	2. Welcome To Beacon

**Author's Note: Hola to everyone! Thank you so much for making it through that first chapter! If you followed/favorited/reviewed, that's even awesomer! If you have absolutely anything to say about this story, please just send me a quick review. I love getting feedback. Also, if you recently tried to read Chapter 2 and it was all wonky, this is a re-post. Sorry about the weirdness. So without further ado...**

Neptune was excited to officially meet the team of girls that Sun had told him so much about. He had seen them fight before, but he had never even heard their names. Well, except Blake. Sun always found time to talk to Neptune about her. They eventually found the girls in the library playing a board game. The blonde boy who had barely done anything in the food fight from a few days ago was talking to them, and just as Sun and Neptune approached, he bowed deeply.

"Sup, losers?" Sun asked.

The short girl with the dark hair and the scarlet cape curtly replied hello in response.

"Ruby, Blake, Yang, Ice Queen," Sun commented, regarding the caped girl, Blake (of course), the beautiful blonde, and the white-haired girl respectively, "I never got a chance to formally introduce you to my old friend." He motioned for Neptune to introduce himself.

"Aren't libraries for reading?" Neptune questioned.

The boy from the food fight with the long black hair threw up his hands and yelled his thanks, waking Watermelon-Hammer-Girl in the process. Sun told Neptune not to be a nerd. Neptune corrected him with annoyance. Nerds had a horrible reputation for being uncool, something which Neptune was not. Intelligence did not warrant uncoolness. Neptune was an intellectual. But disregarding Sun, Neptune introduced himself.

"So, Neptune. Where are you from?" Asked the Ice Queen.

Neptune's coolness reflexes kicked in, and he suavely approached the Ice Queen. "Haven," he replied. "And I don't believe I caught your name, Snow Angel."

The girl almost stuttered. "Um, I'm Weiss." Weiss, he thought. That's a nice name. Neptune glanced over at Sun, who was trying to make conversation with Blake. But it was to no avail. She left almost as soon as Sun finished his sentence. Sun's shoulders just slightly dropped, his expression saying What did I do wrong? Everyone's eyes shifted to Blake's retreating form for a second, then returned to the game.

"Well, Neptune, since Blake is gone, we'll need a fourth player. You want to play?" Ruby inquired.

"Sure," Neptune replied, taking a seat. "But I have no idea how to play this game."

The blonde girl, Yang, he remembered, leaned over towards him and began to explain Remnant: The Game. It took all his concentration to focus on what she was saying and not her long hair falling right next to his face. Or, of course, the other problem. She was gorgeous, all right, but the cut of her top made it very difficult to pay attention.

"Did you get all that?" she asked.

"Yeah," Neptune replied. "Totally."

"Then it's your turn."

Neptune scanned his cards, and carefully, using all of his intellect, selected Vale's airships. There were few of those ships, and they had poor defense, but their firepower was incredible. Glancing around the board, Neptune noticed that Mistral had the best land army. Clearly the intelligent choice would be to attack it. Neptune placed down his card. "Vale Airships, attack Mistral."

Ruby and Weiss glanced at each other in distress. Apparently they knew something about Mistral in this game that he didn't. Yang just grinned and flashed a card with a picture of a Nevermore on its face.

"Trap card," she gloated. "Giant Nevermore." Neptune snatched the card from her hand and examined its description.

"This only takes out my airships if you roll a 7 or higher," he commented.

"Yeah, I know that. But I'm taking that chance." She picked up the 12-sided-die and shook it between her palms.

Ruby leaned over to Neptune and muttered, "She has crazy good luck. She hasn't gotten below 7 yet. Your airships are gonna get crushed."

Neptune crossed his fingers as Yang let the die spin through the air. It landed on the table, rolled over a few times, and finally, its face came up. She had rolled a 6. Ruby and Weiss both let out shouts of hurrah and high-fived. Neptune grinned as Ruby pointed at Yang and yelled "Payback! Your armies have been destroyed!"

"How dare you!" Yang yelled at him, her over-dramaticness in all its glory. Neptune couldn't help but laugh as she played the rest of the game with a tiny pout. Afterwards, he held out his hand for her to high-five.

"Good game," he said.

She lowered her eyebrows, smiled slightly, and slapped his palm. "Good game, newbie."

And as she walked away, she turned back and pointed at him. "I will not forget this declaration of war!"

Sun and Neptune stood and watched, smiling. "Okay," Neptune said softly, in response to Yang's allegation.

Sun elbowed Neptune and, without saying anything, wiggled his eyebrows up and down a few times.

"Oh, shut up," Neptune commented.


	3. A Minor Hiccup

**Author's Note: Hello again! Billie here (well, duh). The third chapter's here! Whoopee! Hope you guys like it! Please don't forget to leave a quick review, and if you like the story, follow or favorite. Here we go!**

Neptune despised the idea of waiting outside team RWBY's dorm just so he and Sun could find out what they were up to. Despite all of Sun's claims that the girls were planning something and that hanging outside their window was in no way stalker-ish, Neptune still had doubts. But they had one major problem. Sure, Sun could climb trees and hang from them with ease, but Neptune was no faunus. He couldn't perch perfectly in a tree like an animal, he'd fall.

"Sun," Neptune said, voice shaking, "If you think I'm going to stand on that tiny ledge on the fourth floor, you're a psychopath."

"Dude, you'll be fine. It's far enough up that your death will be too quick to be painful if you do fall."

Neptune's mouth opened in incredulity. "Thanks a lot!"

"No problem," grinned Sun.

Sun quickly scampered to the lower branches of the tree and jumped to the ledge just under the second floor. He reached down to pull Neptune up to the sill. Even just a few feet off the ground, Neptune trembled. He absolutely hated heights. They did this a couple more times until Neptune was successfully on the ledge of the fourth floor. Sun jumped back over to the tree and hung from his tail in the top branches. Neptune could barely make out a few words of Sun's from his spot on the step. When Sun disappeared into the girls' room, Neptune heard nothing. He waiting in fear. Luckily, the girls poked their heads out after a few seconds.

"How did you even get up here?" Ruby asked.

Not wanting to seem weak by telling the girls that Sun had to pull him up, Neptune only replied, "I have my ways." His fear came through, however, as he shortly said, "Seriously, though, can I come in? We're like… really high up right now." They allowed him to, and he slowly shuffled along the ledge until he could climb in through the window. Sun was teamed up with Blake (which Neptune knew would make him happy), and Ruby gradually pushed Neptune towards Yang. They passed Weiss, who smiled at him. Neptune gave her a sly wink.

"Neptune," Ruby said, "You can go with Yang, since she doesn't have a partner." As he was placed next to Yang, Neptune was absolutely positive that she was trying to kill him. She looked like a million bucks, and her shirt today was even more low-cut than before. Neptune could barely look at her for fear that it would seem like he was checking her out. Not that she wasn't totally worth checking out, but he didn't want to seem like a weirdo.

"Actually," Weiss intercepted, "Ruby, why don't you go with Yang? After all, she is your sister." Neptune was very upset with this development. Sure, Weiss was nice enough. She just wasn't his type.

"But, Weiss, who would go with you?"

"Well, I guess Neptune could come with me."

Ruby snorted and laughed. "Nah," she said, dragging the Ice Queen away. For a second, Neptune was incredibly thankful of Ruby's dedication to her partner. But then Yang turned to him, grinned, and said "Well then. We've got work to do."


	4. Painting the Town

**Author's Note: Hola, my wonderful readers! Thank you so much to the 7 lovely people who followed this story (Agemo5000, MetalSpirit, Nobody95, ThePhengophobicGamer, Ultrachubby, WMSFPaint, and william45). And, of course, many thanks to demonicDRAMAqueen for reviewing! Always love reviews. Even if you've got something minimal to say, I always always always want to hear your opinions and ideas. And so, onto probably the longest chapter so far, the chapter that encompasses what is one of my favorite episodes of Volume 2, etc., etc.**

Neptune liked to consider himself a daredevil (except when it came to heights, of course). But riding a motorcycle with Yang Xiao Long? That was one of the most dangerous and exciting things he had ever done. She drove like a maniac, swerving through the streets, dodging cars. Along the way, she tried to explain her plan by yelling information back at him. Neptune only caught bits and pieces. "Old friend", "Knows everything", "Club", "Blew it up"... All that jazz. The wind blew Yang's long golden hair straight into Neptune's face. And sure, she had nice hair and everything (it even smelled nice), but it was still a little annoying. He sort of wished she had put it in a ponytail, even though that may have looked a little strange. Neptune decided Yang was best with her long hair down. Even if he could barely see what was in front of them.

"So," he yelled against the wind and the roar of the highways, "What exactly are we supposed to be looking for at this… place of yours?"

"My friend who runs it knows everything that goes on in Vale's underground!" She shouted in reply. "If there are rumors about Torchwick or the White Fang going around, he'll know 'em! Plus when I first showed up here, Torchwick was there, paying him for something. So he's gotta know somethin' that's going on."

Couldn't argue with that. And Neptune was pretty excited to go on a secret underground interrogation mission. Especially one with Yang Xiao Long. As she sharply turned a corner into a back alley, Neptune almost fell off the bike, making his glasses go askew on his forehead. She pulled the bike to a stop, took off her yellow helmet, turned back, and said, "Come on. My friend's right in here."

Still out of breath from Yang's reckless corner-turning, Neptune mumbled "Cool" and readjusted his goggles. Gaping up at the graffitied outside of the building and the low thump of music, he questioned, "And where exactly is here?" But Yang was gone before he got an answer. He followed inside behind her, as she announced, "Guess who's back!" More than a dozen men in black suits and scarlet sunglasses pulled out guns and pointed them straight at her face.

While Neptune was shocked that Yang would dare to come to a place where she might be killed, she seemed unfazed. In fact, she glared pointedly at the DJ, whose track kept skipping. He stopped the music just as Neptune stuck his head out from behind Yang and asked, "Yeah, so… Could you define "friend" for me?" The last time he had checked, Neptune didn't find "threatening to kill" in the lists of friendly qualities. The gunmen quickly placed their fingers on the triggers, ready to shoot any second.

A masculine voice rang out. "Stop! Nobody shoot!" The crowd parted, and a giant man with a dark beard stepped forward. Neptune gazed in awe. He was over 6 feet tall, and this bearded man absolutely towered over him. The man's eyebrows furrowed. "Blondie, you're here," he commented. "Why…?"

Yang only grinned. "You still owe me a drink," she replied, pulling him towards the bar by his tie. Neptune had to stop and remember to breathe. "What a woman…" he murmured, gazing after her. She turned back as if she had heard what he said. Afraid that Yang had caught him, Neptune quickly turned to the two girls standing next to him. He smirked and nodded at them in his typical suave fashion. "Sup?"

The twins turned on their heels and scoffed. "Whatever," they muttered. Breathing a sigh of relief, Neptune turned and headed to the bar where Yang was interrogating the bearded man. "Alright, Junior," she said, suddenly stern and businesslike, "I know Roman Torchwick was here in this club. And I know you get info on everything that goes on in underground Vale. So you're gonna tell me. What're Torchwick and the White Fang up to?"

Beard Guy, Junior, furrowed his dark eyebrows, picked up his drink, and replied, "I don't know."

"You _what_?

"I don't _know_," he said, slamming his drink down again.

Yang crossed her arms under her chest. "How can you not know?"

"I haven't talked to him. I haven't even _seen _him since the night you first came in here. He paid up front, I lent him my men, and none of them ever came back."

Neptune, not wanting to seem useless, pounded his palm on the bar. "So where did they go?" He quickly realized that was a dumb question, and both Junior and Yang stared at him in disbelief of such stupidity.

"What kind of stupid question is that? They never came back." Junior turned to Yang and, with narrowed eyes, asked, "Who is this guy?"

"Don't worry about him," Yang replied, placing her hand in front of Neptune's face and straightening him up, "Worry about _me _if I don't find out what I want."

"I already told you everything!" At this point, Junior was visibly aggravated. "Torchwick hired my boys, and I guess he wasn't happy with them. _Which is something I can relate to_," he added, glaring at his apparently incompetent goons.

Yang turned and walked away from the bar. "Come on, Neptune," she muttered, anger lacing her voice.

Neptune leaned down and stuck his hands in his pockets. "We get everything we need?" He knew they hadn't, but at this point, it seemed like saying something would have been better than walking out in awkward silence.

"Well," she sighed, "We got everything we can. Hopefully, the rest of the team is having better luck."

As they walked out of the club and towards Yang's motorcycle, Blake Belladonna's voice rang out from Yang's scroll. "Everyone! If you can hear me, we need backup-"

"Heeeeeellllllp!" Sun interrupted. "They got a robot! And it's big! Really big!"

Yang slipped on her helmet and sunglasses, and Neptune clambered on the the bike behind her.

"That Torchwick guy is in it!" continued Sun. "But not like… It didn't eat him… He's like… controlling it or something!"

"Where are you guys?" Yang shouted in response.

"Hurry!" rang out Sun's voice, both from the scroll and the street behind them, along with the clang of metal footsteps.

"I think that was them," Neptune commented.

"Yeah, I got it." Yang slammed on the gas, and the motorbike screeched away towards the action. Neptune straightened his goggles over his eyes and leaned into the wind. Blake and Sun led the robot to a crowded highway, where the traffic stopped the robot just enough to let Yang pull up just beside it.

"We've gotta slow it down!" she yelled back at Neptune.

"Got it!" He reached back to grab his gun, but the robot began crashing into cars, sending the vehicles and their passengers flying back at the bike.

"Hold on!" Yang shouted, swerving to dodge the flying automobiles. Her bike leaned so much that Neptune's shoulder almost grazed the asphalt. Once they straightened up again, Neptune grabbed his gun and shot a few electric blasts at the robot, slowing it down enough for him to change his gun into glaive form, leap off of the bike, split the glaive into a trident, and spear it into the top of the robot.

"Neptune," Sun shouted, "Hang on!" He activated his semblance as the robot tried frantically to dislodge Neptune from his head. At this point, Neptune was getting really dizzy. The robot gave one giant shake and sent Neptune flying off, carrying his weapon and colliding with Sun mid-air. They flew off the side of the highway and crashed into the concrete below. Everything faded into black.

The first thing Neptune felt when he woke up was a throbbing pain in his head. He put his hand to his face, only to find blood trailing down his cheek from a long gash under his eye.

"You okay?" asked Sun, cracking his neck.

"I'm fine." Neptune got up as quickly as he could and started walking towards the highway.

"Dude. Where are you going?"

Neptune spoke in short, labored breaths. "We gotta go help the girls."

"We just fell head-first into concrete, Neptune. If we try to go fight, we'll only be a useless hindrance. Plus, you've seen those girls fight. They can handle it."

"Sun, that was a food fight. This is a psychopath in an Atlesian Paladin. We have to go help them."

"If you go out there now, you're gonna get yourself killed. And maybe even one of the girls with you."

Neptune knew his leader had a point. Even if Neptune hated to admit it, sometimes Sun could be the more reasonable of the partners.

"Fine," he muttered. "Then what do you suppose we do?"

Sun grinned. "Oh, I have an idea.

Neptune had to admit. _A Simple Wok _had killer noodles. They almost made him forget about the girls for a second.

"They're probably fine, right?"

Sun nodded and didn't even look up from his plate of noodles.

"Probably."


	5. Extracurricular

**Author's Note: Sorry this chapter is gonna be really short. It's just that the only glimpse we got of Neptune in this episode was when Sun asked Blake to the dance. So it's just a little baby chapter today. Also, many thanks to troublesome01 for recently following and demonicDRAMAqueen for reviewing (again)! Have a great Monday, friends (if that's even possible).**

_**DISCLAIMER:**_ My portrayals of Scarlet and Sage in this chapter will likely not be the same as the characters are portrayed in the canon. This is because this chapter was written before we were officially introduced to Sage and Scarlet, and I have henceforth taken a little bit of creative freedom. Once we meet them and discover their personalities, I will begin writing them as they are portrayed in the canon.

"So then Neptune shoots the robot a couple times and stabs it in the head, and it starts shaking to try to get him off, and I'm like 'Neptune, hang on' but he flies off and crashes into me and we fall off the highway and then he's all freaking out 'cause he wants to go help the girls but I'm like 'Bro, you're gonna get yourself killed', so we just went and got some noodles."

Sage raised one dark eyebrow. "Why noodles?"

"Um, 'cause the noodles here are life-changing."

"Alright."

A crowd of students poured out of the building, team RWBY along with them. Sun grinned at the rest of team SSSN and headed off after the girls.

"Is that them?" asked Scarlet.

"Yup."

"My god, they're adorable. I just want to dunk them in my coffee."

"Scarlet, you don't drink coffee."

"Shut up," Scarlet replied, tossing his hair. "They're still precious."

Neptune snickered and rolled his eyes. "Just wait 'till you meet them."

He had to catch his breath when he looked back in Sun's direction. Yang Xiao Long was standing casually, the sunlight turning her hair into liquid gold. She met Neptune's gaze for a second and smiled at him. He had to remember to smile back. Then Sun retreated to his team.

"What happened?"

"I got turned down," sighed Sun.

"Dance?" Scarlet pondered.

"Yup."

"God, Sun, I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I'll get over it."

For a second, Neptune questioned asking Yang to the dance. But Sun just got kind-of dumped. And for now, friends were more important than girls.


	6. Burning the Candle

**Author's Note: Hello again, amigos! Here's chapter 6. Hope you guys like it! Also, please don't forget to review. It helps a lot. So with the utmost pleasure and absolutely no more ado...**

Neptune was definitely excited to see what decorations the girls would be putting up for the dance. As he and Sun walked through the doorway into the ballroom, he heard Weiss's voice ring out, "If I don't get doilies, _you _don't get fog machines!"

"Your dance is gonna have fog machines?"

Weiss turned sweet in a second and stepped up to Neptune. "We were thinking about it…"

"That's pretty cool."

Sun stepped up next to Neptune and grinned at the girls. "You ladies all excited for dress-up?"

Ruby snorted. "Yeah right," she complained.

"Laugh all you want," Yang addressed her sister. "_I'll _be turning heads tomorrow night."

Had she been any other girl, Neptune may have slid in at that moment with a suave comment like "_You turn my head every day, babe." _But Yang Xiao Long was not any other girl, and if he had said something like that, he would likely have been sent flying across campus by a punch from her. Not that the comment wasn't true, of course. She just would have probably killed him for it.

Weiss turned back to Sun and Neptune. "What are you two wearing?"

Sun furrowed his eyebrows like that was a stupid question. "Uuuhhhh… this?"

Neptune quickly stepped in front of Sun. No way was he letting his partner wear no shirt to a formal dance. "Ignore him," he said to the girls, "for he knows not what he says."

"Hey, I may have _moved _to Mistral, but I grew up in Vacuo. It's not exactly a shirt-and-tie kind of place."

Yang rolled her lavender eyes. "Yeah, we noticed."

"So… What does Blake think of all this?" Sun asked, finally getting to a topic he really cared about. "She still being all… y'know… Blake-y?"

"Obviously," Weiss muttered, folding her arms and turning away.

Ruby rested her head on her hands. "I still can't think of a way to change her mind."

"Guys," Yang interrupted. "Trust me. Blake _will _be at the dance tomorrow."

Sun looked after her with hope and fear in his eyes. Placing one hand on Sun's shoulder, Neptune nodded. They could count on Yang. Without a doubt.

Neptune was just casually heading back to his dorm room when Weiss Schnee ambushed him. "Neptune!" she exclaimed.

Caught off guard by the heiress, Neptune stammered, "Oh, uh, hey. What's up?"

"Would you… like to accompany me to the dance tomorrow?"

Neptune was _not _expecting this. No, he didn't want to go with Weiss. She was nice enough, but she was not who he had wanted to go with. And to dance with another girl when Yang would be there? Actually, to _dance _at all? Neptune was horrible at dancing! No, no, he did not want to accompany Weiss Schnee to the dance. But she was a friend. How did you let down a friend without being mean? Panicked, Neptune just tried to wing it. "God, Weiss, um… That's really nice of you… But I was kind of planning on going alone. I mean, I appreciate the offer, but… dancing really isn't my thing. It's sweet, but… no thank you. I'm sorry."

"Oh," she murmured, crestfallen. "It's okay. I mean, I have planning to do anyways…"

"Weiss, I'm really sorry."

"It's fine. Thanks anyways."

_Don't thank me, _Neptune thought.

Neptune couldn't dance. And while he like parties well enough, and the couples dancing looked like they were having a lot of fun, he didn't know what to do. What else is there at a dance besides… well… dancing? Sure, he could talk to Sun, but _he _was busy dancing with Blake. He wanted to hang out with Yang, but she was busy ushering in students and looking like a goddess in her stark white dress. He couldn't talk to Weiss, he had just turned her down. And he didn't know Ruby all that well. So Neptune sat alone, wishing he had the courage or the skill to dance with Yang, and vowed to hang out with Sun once he was done dancing.


	7. AU

**Author's Note: I feel terrible for taking so long to post. It's just that I had writer's block for a while, and then I got an idea for an AU (which is what's posted now), but it took me forever to write, and… ugh. I've had a very long week. But anyways, here's a new chapter. It is NOT, I repeat, NOT, "Dance Dance Infiltration". Still working out how to write that episode. Sorry, friends. I would, however, like to thank TheWriterWithHalfABrain, FandomPurposes, amxxnda, and browniej126 for following. And demonicDRAMAqueen, let me just say… Episode 8, friend. It is coming. Also, btdubs, I made up some last names for Scarlet and Sage in this chapter since their last names haven't been revealed yet.**

Neptune had to admit, he found absolutely nothing wrong with being in power. Second-in-command at Haven Industries? Try... "best job ever". Well, being President would be pretty damn good also, but Sun Wukong held that position. And Neptune wasn't about to de-throne his best friend since Pre-K. Everyone in the company… no… in the COUNTRY knew the name Neptune Vasilias. He had all the money he wanted, all the cars and tech and… _stuff_ he wanted, and all the influence he wanted. Life could not be better.

Well… that last statement may not have been totally true. There was only one thing that could possibly make Neptune happier than he already was. And that would be taking out Beacon Corp., his company's biggest competitor in the weapons industry. The CEO, Ruby Rose, was seemingly the most innocent, fun-loving young woman this side of the West Coast. But she wasn't to be messed with. She was surprisingly genius, uncannily deadly, and her wife, Weiss Schnee, ran the largest and most innovative ammunition technology business in the nation. Their Human Relations Executive, Jaune Arc, was a bumbling idiot, but, remarkably, an incredible people person. His girlfriend and assistant, Pyrrha Nikos, was kind, intelligent, and beautiful. All too dangerous as a competitor. Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren, the leading scientists for the company, were the perfect blend of genius and psychotic. But the pièce de résistance was Yang Xiao Long, Vice-President, Ruby Rose's half-sister. She was smart, sophisticated, ferocious in business, a gifted public speaker, and unmatched in all her beauty. Not that Neptune cared about that last one. Obviously.

So it stood to mention that Neptune was not prepared for Yang to visit his company one unexpected day. Especially not for her to visit _his _office instead of Sun's. She came in strutting, her heels clicking on the hard floors, her hair like sunlight flowing down her back. Another thing Neptune didn't care about. Before he could even get a syllable out, she interrupted.

"Wukong wasn't here. If he was, I'd be in there, not in your grubby office. Just so we get things straight."

"Fine," Neptune said, lifting one dark eyebrow. "So what do you want at Haven anyway? Don't you have some great new weapons tech to show off or something?"

"You of all people should know we just released new tech. Now will you shut up and let me explain so I can get out?"

Neptune definitely didn't notice the way she barely pursed her cherry-red lips when she was annoyed. He also didn't notice how pretty her black-lined lavender eyes were. He motioned for her to take the seat in front of his desk.

"Beacon wants to work with your company for a collaborative project."

"You want _us_ to work with _you_?"

"Look, asshole, I don't control who we collab with. You got a problem with Business Affairs, take it up with your boss's girlfriend."

Sun was currently dating a woman named Blake Belladonna, who ran the business and finance of Beacon Corp. She was nice enough, but Neptune hated the fact that his best friend was in a serious relationship with the enemy.

"Yeah, well I don't run business either. You want to do a collab, take it up with Scarlet."

Scarlet Clair was one of the most intelligent businessmen in the world, but he was more unpredictable than Scottish weather. He could be smiling one minute and snarling the next, and unless Haven's top scientist/weapons tester, Sage March, was there to calm him down, Haven's business partners and plans hinged largely on Scarlet's mood.

"Fine then. And where would I find Mr. Clair?"

"You might not want to," Neptune warned. "He's not in the best of moods today."

"What happened? Boy he meet at a bar last night not call him back or something?"

"Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case."

Yang dropped her guard for a second and smiled, if just slightly. "Fine," she muttered. "I'll get Blake to talk to Sun about it." And with that, she rose from her chair and began to exit the room.

"Hey, Xiao Long," Neptune interjected, as she was about to exit the doorway. She turned and raised one golden eyebrow. "You wanna get coffee or something?"

"I don't like coffee," she smirked.

"What do you like?"

"Hm… I like lava lamps. And movies from the 80's. And I like punching things. Ooh, and cheesecake with chocolate-covered strawberries… And pictures of cats wearing shark costumes." She banged the door shut after that.

Neptune sighed and rested his head in his palms. "I'm an idiot," he sighed. But nevertheless, he picked up the phone and dialed a number. "Hey, Sage? You wouldn't happen to own any really good 80's movies, would you?"

Yang Xiao Long typically loved Sundays. They were her alone day, where she could binge-watch Netflix and eat brownies and let Zwei sit on the couch with her without Ruby getting annoyed. But going outside on Sunday morning to drink some orange juice and watch the sun rise, and tripping over a cardboard box decreased the goodness of her day. Probably by about 20%. The box had no address, no writing, no nothing. And besides, mail didn't come after 2pm anyway, and there was no box on her porch yesterday, which means some idiot had dropped it off real late last night. She ripped open the packaging to find, whoopee, another box, which, in turn, held a blue-and-purple lava lamp.

"He didn't…" she whispered, annoyed. She dug further into the box to find at least a dozen sheets of photo paper, each with four separate pictures of cats in shark costumes on them. There was also a large cheesecake (wrapped, of course, it wasn't just sitting there amongst all the other things with no packaging, that would be stupid), a box of chocolate-covered strawberries, a pair of boxing gloves. And the pièce de résistance? At the very bottom, a neat stack of five movies. _Ferris Bueller's Day Off_, _The Breakfast Club_, _Star Wars: Return of the Jedi_, _Footloose_, and finally, _The Princess Bride_. Taped to the movies was a note, written in bright blue pen, which read "Well, you don't like coffee. -NV"

With that last movie, she whipped out her phone, and dialed Blake Belladonna. Before Blake could even get out a "Hello," Yang shouted, "Did you ask Sun to set me up with his Vice-Prez or something? 'Cause I'm perfectly capable of dating on my own!"

"Um, no. Why, is Neptune hitting on you? Just tell him to go away."

"I did! He asked me out for coffee, so I tried to turn him down and say I don't like coffee, but he wouldn't let up and he asked me what I _do _like, so I gave him a list of really weird things, and I got up this morning, and there's a box of all those things on my porch!"

"So he likes you. Big deal."

"Yes! Big deal! He's the enemy!"

"Yang, this isn't an MMORPG. This is the real world. There aren't actually enemies."

"Ugh, you're no fun to vent to."

"Why do you need to vent? A rich, attractive guy is flirting with you and sending you boxes of random things that you like. Sounds like a good deal to me."

Yang should have known that Blake wouldn't understand. She and Ruby were (unfortunately) usually optimists. "Blake, Neptune Vasilias is a cocky son of a bitch. And he sent me _The Princess Bride_."

"Well, you did give him a list of things you liked."

"I just said I liked 80's movies, not _The Princess Bride_!"

"Oh, man. You can't break the pact."

"I know I can't break the pact! That's why I'm upset! I refuse to believe that asshole is someone worth dating!" A couple years back, Yang had promised herself that if a guy mentioned, referenced, or sent her the best movie of all time, she had to go on at least one date with him. Obviously, that movie was _The Princess Bride_. She groaned, said goodbye to Blake, and angrily dialed Neptune Vasilias' number.

He answered simply, but his voice was smoother than butter. "Neptune Vasilias. Can I help you?"

"Look, you can't just send me a bunch of movies and expect me to watch them alone, dipshit."

"Hello to you too, Yang Xiao Long."

"I expect you at my apartment at 8pm with a large meat lover's pizza. I'm got the champagne."

"Okay… But I don't have your address."

"I'll text it to you."

"Alright. See you at 8, I guess?"

"See you." That was the first time Yang had ended a conversation with Neptune by using an actual goodbye statement, instead of just leaving or hanging up abruptly. She sighed, pulled on a sweatshirt, and trudged to her bathroom to brush her teeth.

Neptune arrived at 8:03 with a pizza box and a confused expression plastered onto his face. "So why exactly am I here?"

"I needed someone to watch these movies with," Yang replied, holding up the small stack.

"Okay… But why me? I thought you don't like me."

"Maybe I don't. But you sent me these movies, and it is therefore your obligation to watch them with me."

Neptune let out a small sigh. "All right, whatever." Yang led him into the apartment where a black-and-white dog jumped on him and yapped. He grinned and bent down to pet the animal. "Hey, boy," he said in baby-speak, rubbing the dog's stomach.

"That's Zwei. Don't touch his ears, he hates that."

Neptune smiled up at her. "He's cute."

"Yeah. Me and Ruby have had him since we were kids. He's getting pretty old now. I'm considering getting another dog once he's gone."

"That's not depressing or anything."

"He's fifteen. I've been expecting it for a while." A kind of wistful sadness crossed her face. A few golden strands were too small to stay in her long ponytail and fell into her eyes. "Anyways, movies."

"Yeah, that. What is it we're watching?"

She grinned and held up _The Princess Bride_. "Only the best movie of all time."

"Love it."

"You love what? The movie, or the fact that we're watching it?"

"Both."

"Both?"

"Both is good."

"You're a weirdo," Yang sighed.

"Yeah, tell me something I don't know." Neptune replied, flopping down on the couch. As Yang sat next to him, he handed her a large piece of overly greasy pizza. She, in turn, filled two plastic glasses with champagne, which they promptly toasted. The television flicked through the starting credits sequences until finally, the picture of an old-timey baseball game found its way onto the screen.

They made their way through the film, each occasionally whispering the best lines. And when it came to the ending, and the grandfather said, "Since the invention of the kiss, there have only been five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most pure. This one left them all behind," Neptune leaned over to the other side of the couch, his lips meeting Yang's. She kissed him back, and when they broke away, she rolled her lavender eyes and muttered, "Asshole."

Neptune drove back home that evening, but he could still feel liquid fire coursing through his veins.


	8. A CRY FOR HELP

DEAR FOLLOWERS.

I AM HAVING A CRISIS. I TRY TO PUT GAPS BETWEEN SCENE CHANGES IN MY STORY TO MAKE IT CLEAR THAT THERE IS A SCENE CHANGE, AND SO THERE IS NOT A JUST AN AWKWARD, UNPRECEDENTED CHANGE OF SCENE. THIS FOOLISH WEBSITE KEEPS MAKING ALL OF MY ATTEMPTS TO DO SO FAIL. I TRY TO PUT ASTERISKS IN A GAP TO MARK A CHANGE, THEY ARE DELETED. I TRY TO PUT A LARGE LINE BETWEEN PARAGRAPHS TO MARK A CHANGE, IT IS DELETED. I TRY TO ENTER A COUPLE TIMES TO HAVE A LARGE GAP BETWEEN CHANGES, THE GAP IS DELETED. I NO LONGER KNOW WHAT TO DO. PLEASE, I NEED YOUR HELP.

IN GREAT DISTRESS,

BILLIE E. BENNETT


	9. Dance Dance Infiltration (Finally)

**Author's Note: I am officially the worst person in the world. I feel terrible for making you guys wait so long for Dance Dance Infiltration. It's actually been so long since I've posted that I forgot the names of all the new followers. Agh. I hate not being able to recognize my awesome followers. Please understand that if you followed during this break of not posting, I still appreciate you so much! I had writer's block for a while, but recently I've been working on another AU that I'm really excited to start posting in another FanFic. But without any more ado, here we go, ladies and gents.**

Neptune noticed the redheaded girl whom he often saw around Team RWBY exiting the ballroom, up the stairs to the balcony. She barely lifted her head to glance Neptune's direction. Her electric green eyes were unnerving and familiar. As Neptune racked his brains, one single name came to mind. He turned to Blake Belladonna.

"The redhead who hangs out with you guys sometimes. Is that… Pyrrha Nikos?"

"Yeah. How do you know Pyrrha?"

Sun shoved Neptune out of the way in order to stand next to Blake. "Wait, Pyrrha's here? Awesome! Why?"

"How do you guys know Pyrrha?"

"Dude, she went to school with us! Plus, she's basically legendary to anybody doing combat training in Mistral. Kicked our butts more than once."

"So she ended up moving to Vale. Huh," Neptune commented. "Who's the blonde guy?"

"You mean Jaune? He's her team leader."

"And are they… together?"

"They're partners. But they're not _together_-together. Jaune… he's got a crush on Weiss. Big-time."

"Ooh-hooh," Sun chuckled. "I can picture the Ice Queen shutting him down real fast."

"Well, you're not wrong."

Neptune bit his lip as he pondered for a second. "I'll be right back," he muttered. He shoved his way through the crowd towards the balcony stairs. As he made his way out to the terrace, Pyrrha made her way past him, her shoulders dropping and head hanging. Neptune glanced back at her, the tiniest pang of worry piercing his head.

"Hey, uh, Jaune, right?" Neptune stumbled out, remembering his original objective.

"Yeah."

Struggling for words, he muttered, "This party's pretty lame, huh? I mean, ballroom dancing. Pfft."

The blonde turned away and said "Yeah" once again.

"Cute girls, though, huh?"

Jaune turned on him as he spoke. "Is that _all _you think about?"

"Huh?"

"Do you even _care _about the girls you're hitting on? How they feel about _you_?"

Neptune threw his hands up defensively. "Dude, where's this coming from?"

"How could you just turn her down like that?"

"Who?"

"_Weiss!_"

_Shit_, Neptune thought. _This is not how I thought this would go. Of course, just my luck, I go to tell a guy I'm not trying to be competition, and he blows up in my face. _"I, _uh_... it, uh... it just didn't work out, you know?

"_What_? You think that you're too _cool_, too many other _options_? Weiss Schnee asked _you_ to the dance. What in the _world_ could _possibly_ keep you from go-"

_No no no no no no no… He'll just get mad if you tell him you like another girl, _Neptune panicked. _Excuse. Pronto. _"I can't dance!"

That made the blonde reel back. "Beg your pardon?"

"I can't dance, man." Hey, at least it wasn't a lie. Neptune was definitely the world's worst dancer.

"But…" Jaune furrowed his eyebrows, "You're so _cool_."

"Thank you. I try really, really hard."

"So... You would rather break a girl's heart and go to a dance _alone_ than just admit to everyone that you can't move in rhythm to music?"

_No, but I would rather break a girl's heart and go to a dance alone than spend all night wishing I came with the right girl. _"That about sums it up, yeah."

"Well, I certainly feel a lot better about myself."

"Please don't tell anybody," Neptune added. He then returned to what he came up here in the first place for. "Look, if you want Weiss, she's all yours. I don't wanna get in your way." _Okay, that came out wrong. She's a person, not an object._

Jaune turned back towards Neptune. "Do you like her?"

_As a person? Yeah. As a girlfriend? Not my type. _"Yeah, I mean… I don't know her too well yet. But she seems pretty cool."

"Then just go talk to her. No pickup lines, no suave moves. Just be yourself." His eyes fell and a look of disappointment crossed his face. "I've heard that's the way to go."

"Yeah, but then-"

"Hey! You _don't have_ to look cool _all_ the _time_. In all honesty, if you could be a little _less_ cool, I'd _really _appreciate it."

Neptune lowered his eyebrows in contemplation, when an idea came to him. "Yeah, okay."

"Go talk to her. I guarantee it'll make her night."

"Thanks." Even if Neptune didn't like Weiss like that, she definitely deserved to have a good time tonight. He had seen the amount of work the girls had put in for this night to happen. "You're a really cool guy, Jaune." He held out one hand for a fist bump.

"Alright, don't lie to my face," Jaune muttered. Nevertheless, he returned the fist bump. Neptune grinned as he exited the balcony. He knew exactly what it was he had to do.

As he made his way back into the ballroom, he saw Weiss sitting alone in the row of chairs that lined the wall. One seat stood empty next to her.

"Hey," Neptune said as he approached. "Do you mind if I sit?"

Weiss lifted her head and, just barely taken aback, gestured for him to take the seat.

"Listen… Can I trust you with a secret?"

"Of course," the heiress replied.

"The reason I turned you down last night. I was embarrassed. I didn't want you to look bad."

She furrowed her stark white eyebrows. "Why would you make me look bad?"

"Well… I may or may not be the worst dancer you've ever seen."

There was a moment of silence, and she burst into a high-pitched giggle. "I don't care if you can't dance, Neptune!"

"Yeah, well I do," he smiled.

Just then, the ballroom exploded into thundering laughter. Through the crowd, Neptune could barely see Jaune, wearing a too-short dress, asking Pyrrha to dance.

"Oh my god," he whispered.

"What?" Weiss had to stand to see what was causing all the commotion. "What on earth? What are they doing?"

"Looks like they're dancing to me." Jaune, Pyrrha, and the other members of their team broke out into an intricate dance, and the group spread out around them, giving the team plenty of room to complete their dance.

Weiss and Neptune took their seats again, and she turned back to him. "So what made you change your mind?"

"Huh?"

"You said you were embarrassed at first. What made you come talk to me?"

A smile broke across Neptune's face. "You're looking at him. You've got some good friends looking out for you."

"Yeah," she murmured. "Yeah, I guess I do."

"Hey," Neptune added, holding out one hand, "Do you wanna dance?"

"You said you're terrible."

"So we'll dance terribly."

She grinned as he lead her out to the dance floor, and they awkwardly spun around in time with the music. He spun her around once, and almost fell in the process. After the song was over, they were both laughing like idiots.

"Thank you," she told him. "That was surprisingly fun." Neptune smiled back at her as she headed off to somewhere else.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Yang Xiao Long standing alone on the second floor of the ballroom. He bit his lip and headed up to where she was.

"Miss Xiao Long," he said, interrupting her silence, "You wouldn't want to dance, would you?"

She raised one golden eyebrow and grinned. "Is this an official invitation?"

"Only if you want it to be."

"And you think _you _can dance with _me_?"

"Well, I'll certainly do my worst."

She leaned back on the railing, widened her smile, waited a second in the quiet, and then took his hand. "Deal."

As they made their way down the stairs, the music shifted into a slow waltz. Neptune's other hand slipped around Yang's waist.

"I should warn you," he said as they started dancing, "I'm terrible."

"Terrible at what? Interrogating? Yeah, I know that from Junior's club."

"Ha, ha. You know what I mean. Terrible at dancing."

"Well," she replied as he fumbled with his feet, "I've danced with worse."

"Really?" he asked, incredulous.

She grinned at him again. "Nope."

"Butthead," he muttered.

"No one's called me 'butthead' since the third grade."

"Yeah, well. Get used to it." He returned her smirk.

"Ow!" A small yelp escaped her mouth. Neptune stopped dancing in panic. He had stepped down hard on her left toes.

"Dammit! I'm really sorry!" He bent down to see if her foot was all right.

"It's fine. I'm a big tough girl."

"Oh, I know," he replied, looking up into her lavender eyes. They stayed in that moment for a while, lilac eyes holding cobalt ones.

"I'm gonna go get some punch," she murmured, slipping off her high heels.

As she walked towards the punch bowl, Neptune yelled after her. "Make good choices!"

She turned back his direction and gave him a questioning look. He shrugged, and she rolled her eyes as a smile spread across her face.

Once she was out of sight, Neptune had to remind himself how to breathe.


End file.
